tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47005993847491056092024-03-05T22:40:39.584-05:00A Journey: Student to Teacher & What Lies BeneathIn Grade 3 I was inspired to become a teacher. As my love for Math grew I knew I wanted to teach high school and I've never looked back. I've had many great teachers in my past that have impacted my decisions - I cannot wait to make them proud. Following this blog will allow you to follow my thoughts and experiences as I continue my path in my first years of teaching and become a role model for many young people. You can follow me on twitter @MsHLyeHeather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-85448296902585293562021-08-08T16:13:00.000-04:002021-08-08T16:13:06.995-04:00Final Leadership Blog?<p><span> Although I did not realize this when I created it (some 12 years ago), I think this blog has always been a little bit about leadership. Being an informal leader has always been a part of my nature - and leading by example (sharing, being vulnerable, holding myself accountable) is embedded in sharing a blog with the world wide web.</span><br /></p><p>I really do hope that posting these entries for my course brings me back to using this blog more regularly as I go back into my teaching role after being on leave for a year (and not posting much in the year or two prior to this). I want to go back to sharing my assessment & evaluation journey. Both to document it for myself and to share my practices and reflections with others.</p><p>Writing for a blog allows you to do some reflection on some leadership skills and think about how and why you are sharing with others. When I write for others I think more about wording I am using and the purpose of sharing the information or anecdote. Using a blog for leadership purposes can help you to develop communication skills, which would be especially beneficial if you work on sharing things like a vision and are able to build a learning community that interacts with you.</p><p>I would like to think that by being honest, sharing strategies and openly reflecting on my practice that I can inspire others to do the same (even if they do not do it publicly). Reflection is an important process for classroom teachers and leaders - the difference is that as a leader we want to reflect on leadership skills and seek feedback about our leadership. I hope that continuing to write in my blog (and using a leadership lens) will help to inspire me to seek feedback about my leadership in addition to continuing to seek feedback about my classroom practices.</p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-78637763949150457862021-08-06T16:03:00.002-04:002021-08-06T16:03:28.660-04:00Leadership: New Teachers and the Ethical Standards<p><span> </span>In Ontario teachers are governed by the Ontario College of teachers. Part of being an Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) means that you are held to the <a href="https://www.oct.ca/public/professional-standards/standards-of-practice" target="_blank">standards of practice</a> and the <a href="https://www.oct.ca/public/professional-standards/ethical-standards" target="_blank">ethical standards</a>, outlined in the hyperlinks provided.</p><p>There is so much to learn as a new teacher. It is flat out overwhelming - even when you have dreamed of becoming a teacher for years and feel you were born to do it, once you get started and really see how much there is to thinking about and consider; the learning curve is steep. </p><p>Here I will analyze the ethical standards in the context of <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growsuccess.pdf" target="_blank">Growing Success</a> to show how it is embedded in the 2010 policy. By following the assessment & evaluation policy, you are upholding the ethical standards (care, respect, trust and integrity) of the Ontario College of Teachers.</p><p><u>Care</u></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">"The ethical standard of </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">Care</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;"> includes compassion, acceptance, interest and insight for developing students' potential. Members express their commitment to students' well-being and learning through positive influence, professional judgment and empathy in practice."</span></i></p></blockquote><p>"Developing potential" and "professional judgement" make me think a lot about the purpose of assessment: to improve student learning (Growing Success, pg 6). If you are working to improve student learning through a genuine desire for success for each individual student you will show compassion and interest for developing student potential and you will be committed to student well-being. In addition, the phrase "professional judgement" appears in Growing Success fifteen times, starting on page 2.</p><p>On page 8 of the policy (which is providing context for the fundamental principles of assessment and evaluation) it states, "In their important professional role, teachers show
students that they <b>care </b>about them, and model a love of learning that can deeply influence their
lives."</p><p><u>Respect</u></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">"Intrinsic to the ethical standard of </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">Respect</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;"> are trust and fair-mindedness. Members honour human dignity, emotional wellness and cognitive development. In their professional practice, they model respect for spiritual and cultural values, social justice, confidentiality, freedom, democracy and the environment."</span></i></p></blockquote><p>The first of the seven fundamental principles of the Growing Success policy is that "...teachers use practices and procedures that are fair, transparent, and equitable for all students." Additionally, you can only have a sound handle on assessment & evaluation when you are able to build trust with students and parents.</p><p>On page 147 the policy defines its use of the word equity as "A condition or state of fair, inclusive, and <b>respect</b>ful treatment of all people. Equity does not
mean that people are treated the same without regard for individual differences."</p><p><u>Trust</u></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">"The ethical standard of </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">Trust</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;"> embodies fairness, openness and honesty. Members' professional relationships with students, colleagues, parents, guardians and the public are based on trust."</span></i></p></blockquote><p>Some of this is addressed above in the analysis of Respect, as it uses trust and fairness in its definition. Moreover, we can build trust through openness by making sure to be transparent in our assessment practices. Another of the fundamental principles states that "...teachers use practices and procedures that are communicated clearly to students and parents at the beginning of the school year or course
and at other appropriate points throughout the school year or course."</p><p>Page 2 (the Introduction) also uses the term trust: "Successful implementation of policy depends on the professional judgement of educators at all levels,
as well as on educators’ ability to work together and to build <b>trust </b>and confidence among parents
and students."</p><p><u>Integrity</u></p><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">"Honesty, reliability and moral action are embodied in the ethical standard of </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">Integrity</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b2a5b; font-family: akkurat; font-size: 16px;">. Continual reflection assists members in exercising integrity in their professional commitments and responsibilities."</span></i></p></blockquote><p></p><p>We use a criterion-based approach to assessment and evaluation in Ontario. It is important to understand what this means and to use this approach, as this is how we help students to make progress in a reliable, research-based approach. When we fail to maintain a criterion-based approach to our curriculum we are comparing students to each other instead of evaluating their learning based on the expectations themselves.</p><p>When growing success defines professional judgement it states that " In professional practice, judgement involves
a purposeful and systematic thinking process that evolves in terms of accuracy and insight with
ongoing reflection and self-correction" which highlights the importance of ongoing teacher reflection.</p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-65264678220627547982021-08-06T11:42:00.002-04:002021-08-06T15:36:18.340-04:00Leadership: Ethics in Public Education<p><span> </span>The fifth module of our Teacher Leadership Specialist course is on ethics in education. We looked at environmental stewardship and social justice as part of this topic. I would be hard-pressed to find an argument against public educators making sure to include environmental stewardship and ethics as part of their classroom culture. The subject(s) that you teach should not be a factor; not to mention that the environment and social justice are in the ethical standards of the Ontario College of Teachers.</p><p>Setting a positive example for social justice and environmental stewardship can come in some small but significant choices. They might include talking about recycling (and the importance of reducing and reusing ahead of recycling) and being an advocate for appropriate language use in the classroom. Students should feel accepted and included in our classrooms.</p><p>As leaders we should be cognizant of the same ideas in interactions with colleagues and students in other areas of the school. We can set a positive example for using anti- racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic language. We can intervene when we hear this language and educate others about the effects of it. We can introduce ourselves to others and give our pronouns to help normalize this practice and make others feel more at-ease.</p><p>These are not big asks, but they can make a huge difference for individual people.</p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-49340079787611155652021-07-28T12:40:00.002-04:002021-07-28T12:40:41.462-04:00Leadership: Why Every Teacher Should Be a Researcher<p><span> </span>The theme of this module in our course was teachers as researchers. While my previous entry was specifically about action research (AR), ultimately it is important for all teachers to think of their work in the classroom as research and to be intentional about using a framework and making decisions based on data.</p><p>Action research uses the following process:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Phase 1: Planning (Come up with a testable question, do some secondary research, design the process) </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Phase 2: Action (Complete the primary research and data collection cycles)</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Phase 3: Analysis (What does the data show?)</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Phase 4: Conclusion</p></blockquote><p>and from phase 4 we can cycle back to phase 1. Ideally action research would be completed collaboratively (and there are other models we can consider, such as Collaborative Inquiry, which ultimately have a similar process and the end goal - to try new things and learn from it - is the same).</p><p>If we are not able to engage in formal AR (collaborative time is not always given, common goals may not be determined) then we should make a best effort to engage in this process on a smaller scale for our own educational practices. I can see this process being used in two ways. Many educators likely are doing this very informally, but we could all benefit (as would our students) from thinking about it in more depth and making sure to complete the process.</p><p>In our day to day teacher we are constantly assessing student learning, collecting data and making decisions based on that data. Often this process is based on intuition and anecdotal data that is not tracked. This does not make the process wrong, but likely we could be making more efficient decisions to improve student learning by being more intentional. I see this process as:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Plan a lesson including intentional decisions for assessment for and/or as learning</li><li>Do the lesson and collect the data (it could be fully collected such as a simple exit ticket using Google Forms/Quizzes or it could be as simple as using a thumbs up/side/down survey where you jot down the counts)</li><li>Reflect on what the data tells you (record your reflections, especially if it informs something to do differently in the plan next time)</li><li>Make an informed decision about student learning and use it to inform the next cycle</li></ol><div>By using the process more formally on an individual basis we making an effort to limit our biases (which we all have - and what makes them a bias is that we often don't recognize them).</div><div><br /></div><div>On a larger scale, as educators we often have a goal for ourselves for a semester or school year. Sometimes this goal is more personal in nature (i.e. to improve work-life balance) and sometimes it is purely about student learning (i.e. to improve on giving descriptive feedback). Although this goal may not be a collaborative effort we can still engage in a more formal process to work through this goal. We are more likely to hold ourselves accountable and, I would guess, are more likely to succeed. The point in both the day-to-day example and this is the same: be intentional!</div><div><br /></div><div>Plan (don't skip the research)</div><div>Collect the data</div><div>Reflect (write it down)</div><div>Make informed decisions</div><div><br /></div><div>Where this can (and does) become difficult is that by not being collaborative we can remain stuck in our isolated classrooms. It becomes important to have conversations with others in the building about your work to keep away from that bubble and to seek feedback from others. If we all engage in work like this it will start to lead to some meaningful collaboration, or at least will allow us to support each other in individual endeavours!</div><p></p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-54973755996723910872021-07-27T16:14:00.003-04:002021-07-27T16:14:50.357-04:00Leadership: The Value of Action Research<p><span> </span>This section of our course looked at teachers as researchers and the importance of grounding our work in educational research. We actually had to consider a topic and to create an action research outline. This prompted me to tackle a topic that we talk a lot about but will require some pointed effort and time: critical thinking.</p><p>If we are going to spend valuable time trying to improve such a vital skill, then it is important for the strategies we choose to be based on research and to do the work across the subject areas. By involving teachers from across the building students will see this work happening in most (if not all) of their classes and will start to see how those skills transfer. The ultimate goal is to change mindsets/habits of mind of staff and students, which often comes after starting to see results.</p><p>It we are going to be teacher researchers then it is important to have a framework to use for our work. Action research provides a framework that forces us to consider a formal plan that involves specific actions, data collection, analysis and reflection. Without these steps we are not likely to make improvements in our practices and we will not know if our actions are likely to make a lasting impact on students and student learning.</p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-55054133413294906252021-07-18T16:26:00.000-04:002021-07-18T16:26:56.282-04:00Leadership: Leaving the Classroom<p> For this entry for my AQ course we have been asked to consider whether we would potentially leave the classroom for a leadership role.</p><p>I have discussed this with a few people but I don't think it was overly public knowledge. My answer is yes. I actually was really considering going into the instructional coach (IC) role, I really hope this role makes a comeback in our board when everything settles down. For some reason this leadership role has always appealed to be more than becoming a curriculum leader (though this is something I have also considered).</p><p>I like this role because you get to engage with teachers and students from a group of schools and build relationships while helping the system innovate and move forward in education. My informal leadership within my schools has often been around leading by example through trying new assessment and instructional strategies and sharing those strategies with those around me. This is the nutshell of the instructional coach role - you work with teachers looking to try new things and help them navigate those changes.</p><p>I also appreciate that this type of role would allow me to build on my skills for working with adult learners. I have facilitated many workshops at this point but have not done much formal work with other teachers of the coaching nature. In the last couple of years I have also started to realize that there is another role I would like to end up in at some point, and the IC role would be good experience to prepare me for this. But that is another story for another day!</p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-88476574629876893662021-07-17T11:49:00.004-04:002021-07-17T11:49:57.130-04:00Leadership: Triangulating Assessment Data<p> In the third module of our leadership course we are looking at pedagogical leadership and one of the sections focused on pedagogical documentation - specifically, triangulation!</p><p>If you have followed along with any of the themes of my writing on this blog over the years you will likely notice an evolution of my interest in student assessment & evaluation (heck, I took the A&E AQ course in 2013), so of course this topic stood out to me.</p><p>This is a topic that I have found many educators (including myself) have really struggled to effectively wrap their heads around. It is a topic that is easily overwhelming, but it is essentially for equitable assessment, evaluation and reporting and it is fundamental for pedagogical leadership. We can have great instructional strategies and presence, we can even be good at sharing those strategies, seeking feedback and reflecting on - but without connecting instruction with assessment (and realizing that they must go hand in hand) it is difficult to claim that we are accomplishing the ultimate goal as teachers. We must put students at the centre of our work and remember that to improve student learning we must be able to effectively assess student learning.</p><p>Triangulation informs all types of student learning. We should be using it to assess students <i>for</i>, <i>as</i> and <i>of</i> learning stages as well as to determine student grades at the reporting stages. By being able to collect information from our students in different ways we are better able to uncover what a student knows and understands and the depth to which they understand and can apply their learning. This is where using the achievement chart and evaluating student work using levels starts to make a lot more sense. Student achievement is found in depth, not in a number we can come up with because of "correct" answers given.</p><p>The most overwhelming part of this (that pedagogical leaders should first tackle for themselves - or at the very least be actively working on tackling) is how to do this in an effective way that does not result in an overload of data! We can't (and shouldn't) record every little observation and conversation (or even formative products for that matter) that we have with students, it would result in way too much data to use at the reporting stage. We should, however, use these opportunities to inform our instruction (identify groups of students needing help, or whole class intervention/changes in lesson plans needed), to give students descriptive feedback in conversations or during observations (depending on the age of students some of this can be recorded by the student even). And we must also be intentional about choosing observations and conversations (transparent to students) that will be included as opportunities to show assessment <i>of</i> learning and record that data for later use in reporting.</p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-31522949436383816712021-07-11T15:20:00.004-04:002021-07-11T15:20:34.732-04:00Leadership: Positive Professional Development Experience<p> This entry comes after some learning about effective professional development facilitation in our Teacher Leadership course. <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may14/vol71/num08/Planning-Professional-Learning.aspx" target="_blank">Thomas R. Guskey</a> discusses backward planning needed for this type of professional development to happen - and makes it quite obvious why so much PD tends to fail. The big take away from this article is to note that these 5 things need to happen when planning teacher learning:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: none; letter-spacing: 0.1px; white-space: pre-wrap;">1) Desired student learning outcomes - what specific outcomes do we want to see and what evidence best reflects these outcomes (the decision should be based on data)</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: none; letter-spacing: 0.1px; white-space: pre-wrap;">2) New practices & policies to be implemented - determine practices based on evidence (actual research, with citations) that will result in the desired outcomes</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: none; letter-spacing: 0.1px; white-space: pre-wrap;">3) Needed organizational support - ideally needing school leader support and school resources (release time, technology, instructional materials) as well as feedback for teachers as they implement new strategies</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: none; letter-spacing: 0.1px; white-space: pre-wrap;">4) Educator knowledge and skills - what must educators know and be able to do to implement the practices/policies?</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: none; letter-spacing: 0.1px; white-space: pre-wrap;">5) Optimal professional learning activities - the set of experiences that will allow 4 to happen</span></span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><p>So where have I seen this in practice?</p><p>A few years ago the Instructional Coordinator for Assessment at our board created the Secondary Assessment Leadership Team. This was a team you could apply to and 1-2 candidates were selected from each school location. We participated in an assessment camp that happened in the summer over 2-3 days and then had full day PL release during the year as well as some evening PL sessions to attend. This was continuous learning over time geared at building leadership capacity in the board in assessment with the goal of improving student learning. Here is how each of the 5 planning items were addressed:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>We wanted to see student learning improve through changing assessment practices in the secondary portion of the board to better align with Ontario policy. This shift should see assessment & evaluation provide students with more varied opportunities to show their learning, get descriptive feedback and have a more transparent assessment experience in school. By doing this we believed that we would see improvements in student wellness and academic achievement. I don't know if the central data collecting for these goals happened. It may have happened on a school by school basis through student surveys and monitoring grades and final evaluation results.<br /><br /></li><li>Our work was all grounded in research. The learning of the SALT team used thoughtfully chosen resources over a period of time. For example, one year our work was focused around "<a href="https://school.nelson.com/developing-assessment-capable-visible-learners-grades-k-12-maximizing-skill-will-and-thrill/" target="_blank">Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners</a>" by Nancy Frey, John Hattie and Douglas Fisher. We also had board developed smaller resources created by teachers based on research that as SALT leaders we could use with our school staff.<br /><br /></li><li>I have partially addressed this above - you can see clearly that we had board level support and resources (time release, reading materials) - and this support extended to the school level (at most locations). Principals were briefed about the work of the SALT team via a video conference and (ideally) the SALT lead was with the principal at the time. Release time was provided for school teams and principals could use the school discretionary release days for this purpose as well. SALT leads were expected to plan professional learning for their locations and this often occurred during provincial PA days, staff meetings and early-release days. Feedback for teachers would have been more dependent on how each location planned.<br /><br /></li><li>Our first year with the SALT team focused on improving final evaluations. Much of the practice was grounded only in the use of products and exams were still common-place in many locations. The Secondary Assessment Steering Committee felt that addressing final evaluations was an important starting point with the most impact as it would help steer more teachers toward changing practices in other places. We use our Final Evaluations checklist a lot that year and addressed teacher knowledge around <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growsuccess.pdf" target="_blank">Growing Success</a>, equity, triangulation and analyzing final evaluations next to the overall expectations of a given course.<br /><br /></li><li>The SALT team sessions were set up to have us look at part of the resource we were focused on that year and also evolved to include leadership and facilitation skills (including planning for PL). It always included time to work on our planning while sharing and getting feedback from fellow group members. We often used reflective time to debrief on things we had tried since the last meeting so that we could adjust, learn new things and plan for the next leadership opportunity.</li></ol><div>I had never really thought about these explicit steps for planning professional learning/development in the past, but I will definitely refer back to this learning for my future facilitation opportunities!</div><p></p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-79562768434862356092021-07-09T15:36:00.002-04:002021-07-10T16:17:37.520-04:00Leadership: Inspired to Learn!<p><span> </span>This entry is for my Teacher Leadership course and we were asked to take any topic from the module that resonated with us and describe it along with "its importance to being a pedagogical leader."</p><p>One of the candidates in the course has inspired my own learning when they created their AQ course outline titled "Nurturing Learners in the Classroom." The purpose of the course is to learn more about:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Science of learning</li><li>Factors contributing to student learning</li><li>Myths in learning</li><li>Executive functioning</li><li>Content retention</li><li>Educational system models</li><li>Teaching students about the brain and growth mindset</li></ul><div>The above topics are all ones that I have explored (or at least asked about) in the past and these ideas have sparked me to want to start to dive a little deeper into one or more of them again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Too often we think of teaching and pedagogy as being based on the topic we are teaching. Too often we make it through our B.Ed programs and still do not really know how people learn or what is required to build classroom cultures and school systems that are actually equitable. It is actually vital to being a good teacher to understand how humans learn (and how this is different depending on developmental age) and to analyze and reflect on our own teaching using this lens.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you are going to be a pedagogical leader (which can be thought of as <span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20;">supporting teaching and learning. It includes instructional leadership—supporting classroom teachers in their key role of implementing curriculum" according to <a href="https://mccormickcenter.nl.edu/library/why-pedagogical-leadership/" target="_blank">Michael B. Abel</a>) then it should be considered essential to understand the science of learning and how we can best take advantage of what we know about the human brain to be effective educators and to lead others into using these best practices.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20;">Thank you, Rachel, for inspiring me to further my learning and return to parts of education that reignite my flame!</span></span></div><p></p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-33039078687320069332021-07-04T10:47:00.001-04:002021-07-10T16:18:05.370-04:00Leadership: 10 Admired Leadership Qualities<p><span> </span>I am currently completing my Teacher Leadership Specialist AQ and it has brought be back to blogging. I am hoping that it will serve to help me build some momentum and bring life back into this blog after some time away. So bare with me a little while I get my writing legs back under me!</p><p>Leadership is a complicated thing, and as teachers we are often informal leaders among colleagues and friends. Here are 10 leadership qualities I admire in others and am striving to make qualities that I see in myself:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Build relationships! </b><br />My outgoing department head is very good at making this a priority in his leadership. He always remembers to ask how things are going before he dives into the work and our department meetings always put an emphasis on getting to know each other before sharing information or diving into the learning. This is something I always have the intention of doing, but my outcome-focused personality tends to take over - so it is a work in progress!<br /><br /></li><li><b>Be a conversational wizard! </b><br />My former principal was fascinating to watch. She could take a conversation likely to get heated and turn it into a calm moment that resulted in a plan of action. I am still not entirely sure how she did it but the foundation of her approach was to allow each person involved to be heard and she was firm. I only wish I had more opportunities to observe more carefully before she retired.<br /><br /></li><li><b>Have a clear vision but build it collaboratively! </b><br />Shared visions are always a lot more effective and motivating for the people that you lead. Having a voice in a conversation always makes me more inclined to buy-in and I see the value in making sure others get this opportunity. Some circumstances may make this more difficult (i.e. when change is needed but routine is firmly grounded) so when the vision may not be shared it is important to find other ways to allow voices to be heard, the vision to be clearly communicated and for the vision to evolve as change begins to happen and collaboration is becoming more common.<br /><br /></li><li><b>Always ground the work in student achievement and well-being! </b><br />My former principal always used to say "the students are our clients - it's not about you." It is human nature to feel ownership over what we do in our lives, but it is so important to step outside of that nature and realize that we are not perfect and many of us have experienced a lot of privilege in our lives (so it is even more important to reflect, listen and avoid becoming defensive). Our classrooms should be student-centred and so should our leadership work.<br /><br /></li><li><b>Lead by example - take risks! </b><br />It is vital to practice what you preach. As teacher leaders we should be an example of what we want to see. This is why I feel it is important to continue to work on effective assessment & evaluation practices grounded in policy and to be innovative and reflective about classroom practices.<br /><br /></li><li><b>Be vulnerable! </b><br />This is connected to #5 - to lead by example you also need to share practices and learning with others. Being reflective in a public way allows others to see that you are fallible and that in being innovative there will always be failings but persistence ultimately pays off.<br /><br /></li><li><b>Seek feedback! </b><br />Part of being fallible is realizing that there is always room for improvement and being proactive to ask for feedback from others. This is another aspect of leading by example and being vulnerable but it important to recognize on its own. All of the best leaders I have had were ones who found ways to seek feedback from students and colleagues.<br /><br /></li><li><b>Have courageous conversations! </b><br />Change is not created by shying away from what might be difficult. I have learned that allowing these conversations to stay away from "getting personal" involves careful listening in combination with bringing a "third point" to the conversation. This is usually in the form of a resource that is impartial so that it can be referred to when the conversation needs to be grounded.<br /><br /></li><li><b>Empower others to lead! </b><br />My outgoing department head's expertise was not in my subject area, so he was very good at asking us to lead professional learning for our group when we had something to offer. He knew that it would be more valuable and meaningful coming from a colleague than coming from him. By helping others around us develop leadership skills we become stronger leaders ourselves.<br /><br /></li><li><b>Be knowledgeable! </b><br />It is pretty difficult to create buy-in when you don't have the vital knowledge to support it. Knowledge of best practices including instructional & assessment practices, knowledge of policy (curriculum, Growing Success as well as board and school policy) and knowledge of school & department protocol/processes (where to find things, who are the resources in the school). Leadership is not likely to be respected if the people being lead have more knowledge (a leader can still need to learn, it helps to be open about that learning but needs to be acted upon in a timely fashion).</li></ol><div>At this point I feel pretty comfortable with myself for #4, 5, 6 and 10 and that given some more formal opportunity to lead that I am getting more comfortable with #3, 7 and 9. I am continuing to work in the short term on #1, 2 and 8.</div><p></p>Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-27045609178011816692020-06-15T23:59:00.000-04:002020-06-16T00:30:46.167-04:00Embracing Vulnerability, Recognizing Privilege and Taking Action for ChangeWe cannot sit idly by, or simply post resources to social media that inevitably only serves to connect with like minded people, and think that we are doing our part. And by we, I mean the white population of the world.<br />
<br />
Black and Indigenous people of colour's (BIPOC) lives matter. They matter, not just because they are just as human, but because they have been systemically disadvantaged and discriminated against for hundreds of years.<br />
<br />
It is time for us to do the work. The BIPOC communities have been fighting for long enough. Change starts from within. As white citizens we need to recognize, learn about and work to change the systemic discriminations that are built into who we are and what our country has become. It is NOT enough to be a person who is "not racist". We must work to become informed people who actively engage in the discussion, make personal changes and actively speak up/act when witnessing discrimination.<br />
<br />
By no means do I think myself an expert. I am still early in my journey to learning about anti-racism. I am just fortunate to have some amazing colleagues who were doing the work and helped me get started on this journey. Last year we engaged in a lot of learning that allowed me the space to start to look at my own thoughts and actions and start to recognize my own biases and start to see microaggressions for what they are. I started to come to a better understanding that as honest a life as I had wanted to live, I had not seen the racism within myself before. I grew up with friends of different ethnicities and was engaged to a visible minority - so how could I be racist?<br />
<br />
And so my journey to embrace mu vulnerability, recognize my privilege and to take action to change had begun. If there is a moment from those early days that really sticks out, it was when student stories (from students at my own school) were being shared with and I found myself realizing that I was (unconsciously) responding to the reactions of students of colour differently in the classroom. I had to do a lot of reflection to identify which of my actions/words/thoughts I needed to become more aware of - the mental list had begun. <br />
What I am sharing here today is no authoritative stance, nor does it necessarily reflect any perfect views or ideas. This is just me trying to use my privilege to stand with the BIPOC community. Hopefully you are starting to ask "So what can I do to fight systemic racism in Canada?" It may not be a simple answer, but it is doable!<br />
<br />
1) Educate yourself! This does not mean that you should seek out BIPOCs on your life and ask questions. It is not their job to teach you. (But if someone of colour does choose to speak with you about racism, make the effort to really listen! If a BIPOC tells you that there is something that has caused harm, that is often a moment of vulnerability and trust in their relationship with you - if you are not able to respond with meaning in the moment, be honest that you need time to process and appreciate that they trusted you enough to share - make sure to continue that conversation within a reasonable time to honour your relationship). Start with learning some vocabulary and doing related research on Google OR pick up a book like "So You Want to Talk About Race" which is a good introduction to big ideas and vocabulary OR watch Dear White People on Netflix (and Google vocabulary when it comes up).<br />
<br />
2) Do the work! In learning about things like white fragility, systemic racism and microaggressions, do the *personal* work to start to recognize the things you say and do that you may not have realized were racist before and with to change your attitudes, habits and behaviors. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. We are talking about dismantling a system that has been an advantage to you your whole life, try to take your discomfort out of the equation.<br />
<br />
3) Be part of the solution! Use your privilege for good. Learn when to stand behind, beside or in front of the BIPOC community to support the work. Say something when you see/hear something. You will not get it right every time. In fact, you will mess up. It's inevitable. But keep learning and keep doing the work. Here is an image about allyship that a friend shared that I found helpful (it is intended for Trans Allies, as soon in the header, but the principles are universal).<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S_p2d5-4XelpdwhIFHDljKjFlZgjXpKa3H5P9zPsdgicJn85suscN9WoAElpRiJ-eKTNC-ncFCraX-z9flRM44BhJVCz7H8KlUHzl7KPMBIeqmn4GnrOG8RlHlwPbP207HKUGUan-lI/s1600/1920_519_Infographic_EffectiveAlly_BRANDED_1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S_p2d5-4XelpdwhIFHDljKjFlZgjXpKa3H5P9zPsdgicJn85suscN9WoAElpRiJ-eKTNC-ncFCraX-z9flRM44BhJVCz7H8KlUHzl7KPMBIeqmn4GnrOG8RlHlwPbP207HKUGUan-lI/s640/1920_519_Infographic_EffectiveAlly_BRANDED_1.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source can be found <a href="https://www.the519.org/education-training/training-resources/our-resources/creating-authentic-spaces/being-an-effective-trans-ally?fbclid=IwAR1y1QCIO1kFdQpvTAMzhiKMmq5_GBNZlETnhpqkD_OdGK_2tCyIj39pt1Q" target="_blank">here</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Privilege can be complicated and comes in many forms. Most of us have some, but some have more than others. Let's choose to use our privilege for good.Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-10946071313349454362019-09-23T19:30:00.003-04:002019-09-23T19:30:53.864-04:00Both Grateful & Struggling with the New [School] YearWe are 3 weeks into the new school year. It was a bit of a rushed start for me with a lot of adjusting - learning D2L Brightspace to help with the ILC/Credit Recovery section I have this year, settling into married life and continuing to work on striking a work-life balance, missing my friend and colleague who was forced to change schools by the circumstances created in Ontario, and continuing to try to learn and grow as an educator while circumstances force us to deal with variables that we are not used to having. Regardless, I am grateful for my new husband, my job, and the innate love I feel for my chosen profession.<br />
<br />
Some of the struggles I am alluding to have been in the media - an interview here and there with a grade 12 student expressing their frustration with missing courses in their timetables. For most people in Ontario this is something they hear about, maybe even sympathize with, but it is not something they are experiencing themselves. Perspective has a lot to do with how you interpret a story you hear and with the decisions you make.<br />
<br />
Here are some perspectives on public education in the current climate...which one do you connect to right now? Can you put yourselves into the shoes of the others? In the end, what do you value? [*what follows is of course based on generalization and is not meant to depict any particular person, just to provide some of the perspectives I see]<br />
<br />
<u>Government/Tax Payers-at-Large</u><br />
Education is an expensive major item in the budget that we like to say we invest in the future of others but that has been around publicly for so long that most of us do not really see the benefit in day-to-day (if you grew up in an educated circle, it is all you have ever known, so do you really understand why public education is so important?). The $$ value of what is invested into the system is the primary concern. [And depending on political beliefs] saving money on education and putting money in the pockets of private-sector folks benefits "the working citizens".<br />
<br />
<u>Parents of Elementary-Aged Students</u><br />
(There is, of course, a variety of perspectives here but I will choose what I suspect is a majority.) Education is an important part of my child's life that is helping them have a future. It also serves as a place that my child has to go every day that is safe and allows me to afford a life-style that my family can enjoy (imagine if everyone had to pay to send their child to private school). Public education also exposes my child to a lot of things they would not otherwise get to experience and gives the opportunity for equity. I want my child to get the best education possible and need educators who care, resources that matter, and buildings that are safe.<br />
<br />
<u>Secondary School Students/Parents</u><br />
Education is a means to get to a higher level of education and/or to a apprenticeship/job. I need marks that will get me to the next step and that is what matters. I have a specific goal in mind, which requires a certain mark in a certain set of subjects. I want to learn as much as possible but know that the system is built based on the number on my report card. I want to have teachers that care about me and have the opportunity to do as well as I can. If my classes grow, these opportunities decrease and I am forced to choose alternative options like night school and (if my family can afford it) private school to get my credits. (And if my family cannot afford it, I work my butt off and this year might have to be in online classes that make learning difficult for me or go to night school on top of day school and gave up something I loved to make the time for it).<br />
<br />
<u>Public System Educators</u><br />
Education is an integral part of our province and country that can provide opportunities to students from all means and walks of life. We know that the system is not perfect (in fact is far from it) but we work hard every day to move it in the right direction. We care deeply about our students (even if we do not have children of our own) and want to see each of them succeed. We are fortunate to have stable jobs and be compensated with other benefits that allow us opportunities to keep ourselves healthy (though many of us are bad about it, putting so much of ourselves into our job and neglecting our own needs), but every fight we decide to engage in politically has a foundation in wanting what is best for students.<br />
<br />
Of course there is probably some bias evident in the above paragraphs, but I am also trying to portray that I get there are different ways to look at a situation. My biggest personal struggle is pinned down roughly through the following connections:<br />
<br />
1. Students seek marks --> marks provide entry into further education<br />
But marks are a very capitalist way to determine achievement and were derived in a system where we want to "graduate" people who could follow instructions and be cogs in a factory wheel.<br />
<br />
2. Marks are like currency --> students/families seek marks in whatever means they can --> too many private schools to "police" + expectation that "credit is paid for" --> credits granted to students with less integrity<br />
<br />
3. Current/future job force needs require more well-rounded skills (including critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication) --> a need for courses that focus on these skills --> "marks" are more murky, they don't paint a real picture of a student (arguably they never did)<br />
<br />
Needless to say, I find myself as an educator pinned down in a system and fighting against a current that sometimes feels much too swift to continue to want to try. I continue to believe that integrity matters, that preparing students for the unknown future is the best service I can provide and that we are in a huge system that is based on a "currency" that is out of date and does a disservice to our children.<br />
<br />
Will you fight with me to build our system up, instead of tearing it down?Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-31563607535103319112019-06-28T16:53:00.000-04:002019-06-28T16:53:14.191-04:00Bittersweet Year End<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
Every year of my teaching career has ended with some similar routines. Report cards are written, work areas are cleaned up and organized, report cards are distributed, commencement happens...generally wrapped up with some kind of staff luncheon with a few good-byes to retirees/LTOs/etc. And of course the personal "have a great summer, see you next year"s are shared and we are on our merry ways to some time to refresh & reconnect with life.<br />
<br />
And these days are always filled with a few mixed emotions - but this year was more difficult than most.<br />
<br />
It has been about 10 months since my last blog entry. This was not intentional or by design. It was something I thought of many times throughout the year but could never sit myself down (or make the time) to share. We accomplished some great things. There was probably a lot worth sharing. But I couldn't do it.<br />
<br />
Personal time was more of a priority, in part. But trying to digest this year's political climate has come with a lot of emotion that makes sharing professional triumph and reflection a lot more difficult. I take it personally. I want Ontario to know what a difference this generation of teachers is trying to have on the future. There is a generation of teachers that politics wants to be ignorant of. It is easier to treat us like the past has treated us then to figure out who we are, why we are here, and what we can accomplish.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6ZCgWyX4AANWbt.png:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6ZCgWyX4AANWbt.png:large" width="436" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Facebook post from May 12, 2019</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Usually my year end would culminate with getting home to enjoy a refreshing beverage and blasting Alice Cooper's "Schools Out". This has been tradition since my university days. But I can't bring myself to bust out the positive vibe that comes with the knowledge that I can relax for a few weeks, decompress, and look forward to another year.<br />
<br />
It is hard for me to admit that I am struggling with the idea of summer this year.<br />
<br />
We had to say good-bye to some amazing colleagues today who had unfortunately been declared surplus to region weeks ago (and therefore could not have timetables assigned to them with us). Luckily most of them already know where they will be in September - though not all in contract positions and none with confidence that they won't have to go through this again next year.<br />
<br />
I am tired of the misleading media (and blatant lies/ignorant statements from the Ontario government) and frustrated with losing rock-star colleagues. I am tired of feeling helpless despite being a front-line worker in our public system. I am tired of having to explain and justify to others as to why surplus to region was necessary and how there is ZERO mathematical support for the claim that "no jobs will be lost."<br />
<br />
Today we watched the first graduating class of our school cross the stage. But we also watched the system, as we currently know it, walk out the door at the end of the day.<br />
<br />
And it is not okay.Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-91064968028905844452018-08-19T17:25:00.000-04:002018-08-19T17:25:01.782-04:00Midterm Conferences & Term Reflection 2.0Another overdue blog entry! Better late than never.<br />
<br />
I wanted to share the new experience with midterm conferences in second semester (as students were more involved with the learning map and I made some tweaks to the reflection they were doing).<br />
<br />
<b>Student Reflection</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This time around, students were better able to make use of the learning map. Since they had since it since the first week of the course they had a better understanding of what the map meant and how to use it. This meant that student's evaluation of themselves was generally more realistic. It also meant that students were better able to identify what they were doing well, and what they needed to set out as a next step (which meant that the report comments they helped me write were more meaningful).<br />
<br />
<b>Student Conference</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Conferences were close to student-led conferences. More of them were prepared to show me evidence of their learning and defend their self-evaluation. Some were still under prepared, but there were a lot fewer that needed to go back to do the reflection before re-booking their conference.<br />
<br />
Overall there was still some separation between where students believed they were and what I had seen, but it was a lot easier to ask them for evidence of the learning, which led to students doing some reflection in the moment and often realizing that they had not yet shown me something. They were productive conversations and students sometimes expressed they wanted to have more of them (they are time consuming, but I hope to find more and more ways to give students this individual time that they need).<br />
<br />
<b>Term Reflection</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Some student feedback and personal reflection led me to realize that the reflection I was having students do was not as productive as it needed to be. At midterm I still had students identify a strength and need for each OLG and then evaluating using the learning map. Problem was, they were not engaging enough with the evidence of learning they had identified (and it was a little redundant), So I changed the first chart they were willing in to look like this: (note, you can see the previous version <a href="http://teachinginspirations.blogspot.com/2017/11/reflections-on-midterm-conferences-in.html" target="_blank">here</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuK-nNm9IOaf5Ex2s5oLEjaXMXDI-PvcT9LQmU2dpoyKgKCEFbhFWxqmGxJAQYTc8vAOhha3xLGO8HxtcHVxh-7SjEb-2MtzOa81uCo8pNZRBEQBiLjKyke3zw7BPSLD3IrcIdiOG1xs0/s1600/Screenshot+%252811%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1122" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuK-nNm9IOaf5Ex2s5oLEjaXMXDI-PvcT9LQmU2dpoyKgKCEFbhFWxqmGxJAQYTc8vAOhha3xLGO8HxtcHVxh-7SjEb-2MtzOa81uCo8pNZRBEQBiLjKyke3zw7BPSLD3IrcIdiOG1xs0/s640/Screenshot+%252811%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Feel free to borrow and tweak this if you are interested!<br />
<br />
Send me a tweet or comment on this blog if you have any other suggestions, ideas, or questions. Would love to hear from you :)Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-57009987652977344712018-07-06T13:54:00.000-04:002018-07-06T13:54:27.898-04:00"Gradeless" Math 2.0Well the blog updates got pushed to the bottom of the to-do list in second semester (not unusual) so this is a tad overdue, but I wanted to share some of the changes that my reflection on first semester lead to.<br />
<br />
Some context:<br />
- first semester did not have a learning map with descriptors until after midterm (I did not find I was able to write clear descriptors that I liked until I had evidence of student learning to use to write them)<br />
- the learning map was not clear to students and since they had not engaged with it during the semester having them do final reflections and self-evaluate their course mark was difficult for them<br />
- students relied heavily on the teacher for feedback<br />
<br />
And so I set out in the second semester to make some changes. As many of you will be able to relate to, my thought process was more ambitious than life would allow for.<br />
<br />
The new iteration (Gradeless 2.0):<br />
- I added to my deconstruction of curriculum to include the learning map (read <a href="http://teachinginspirations.blogspot.com/2017/09/week-1-in-math-my-motivations.html" target="_blank">here </a>for a description of the first week of class in Semester 1, I kept the math processes part and then the grades 10s did the following instead) by cutting up the map into pieces and giving it to them to put together (this forced them to read at least parts of the map and start to become familiar with it)<br />
- Trying to spend more time modelling the use of criteria and feedback for students and giving them more dedicated time to do assessment as learning (trying to help them be less reliant on the teacher)<br />
- Having students engage in the learning map by self-evaluating at the end of each set of summative evaluations (admittedly, this happened after the first set but did not get done in explicit class time after that)<br />
<br />
New reflections:<br />
- The new iteration was time well-spent. Students definitely had a better grasp of what the map was intended to do and were more comfortable using it (not all of them, there is still some work to be done, perhaps a more pointed effort to conference with students more often)<br />
- I want students to refer to the map more to increase their focus on identifying where they are and what their next steps might be (keep the focus on noticing and naming the learning and reflecting on their progress)<br />
- Students seemed to appreciate the transparency. One going as far as to say "I finally know what it means to be a level 4 in math" and used this as a way to help himself set goals<br />
- The feedback at the end of the course from my students shows that even the ones who rated the learning map on the low side liked the idea of it, they just found it confusing at times<br />
<br />
So it seems like the learning map is something I should continue to pursue and should put a focus on helping to make it more student friendly - I am just not sure what that would look like yet. I wonder if there is way to make it a bit more interactive so that students can see examples of some of the more confusing parts or read explanations of terms.<br />
<br />
If you have any suggestions they would be welcome!<br />
<br />
Happy summer!Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-44535359512704428582018-02-20T19:46:00.000-05:002018-02-20T19:46:07.624-05:00JALI Assessment As Learning ReflectionAs many of you who have read one of my blog entries already will know, I am have been on a journey to improve my understanding and use of assessment in my teaching practices over the past few years. In semester 1 of this year I had the opportunity to participate in one of my school's "mini courses" offered for teachers. This one was lead by one of my colleagues and was to work on our use of assessment AS learning.<br />
<br />
This is an area that I feel I have continued to struggle with but know that I need to tap into better. In order to survive in my quest (see recent post on this quest) for a feedback-focused math classroom I need to tap into the skills of my students to give themselves (and each other) effective feedback. Students deserve feedback, and getting them involved in the process engages them in the learning better, makes evaluation more transparent, and makes teacher workload a bit more manageable.<br />
<br />
I was able to be exposed to some strategies I had not considered in my classroom before the JALI course and am now trying some new things in semester 2. My goals are for students to:<br />
- engage in the learning map more regularly<br />
- do more co-construction of criteria<br />
- explicitly use criteria to give each other (and self) feedback on their work<br />
- (and by extension) for students to better self-identify their needs<br />
<br />
I am grateful for colleagues who are so willing to share their experiences and expertise with others and found sharing with the other course members was a reward in itself!Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-50495745301075220942018-02-15T18:00:00.000-05:002018-02-15T18:00:14.201-05:00Reflecting on "Gradeless" Math - Modelling Life-Long LearningThis post can also be found on our <a href="http://throwingoutgradestllp.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">team's TLLP blog</a>.<br />
<br />
As the title of this entry may suggest this entry is serving as a place to express my thoughts around how last semester went and the changes I am hoping to make. My desire is that this "public diary" will help me to be accountable to my goals, will inspire someone else to take a risk, and will model that we (teacher) practice what we preach - we are all learners.<br />
<br />
<u>What worked well that I will continue</u>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Having students engage in deconstructing curriculum (specifically the math processes and instructional language)</li>
<li>Making students reflect on their learning (often!)</li>
<li>Having a grounding document for evaluation (learning map with overarching learning goals)</li>
<ul>
<li>evaluation is based in criteria</li>
</ul>
<li>Having students analyze their evidence of learning to determine their grades (and conferencing about it)</li>
<li>Constructing success criteria with students</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>What I will strive to do better</u>:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Engage in curriculum deconstruction more frequently (not just at the beginning of the course)</li>
<li>Doing more explicit instruction around reflection (how, when, why)</li>
<li>Helping students understand where they currently are (map was not ready until midterm last semester, students did not know how to use it or make meaning from it) so they can better match evidence of learning to the map and, therefore, determine a midterm and final term grade</li>
<li>Teaching students to self- and peer-assess and give appropriate, meaningful feedback</li>
<li>Spending time getting students to co-construct criteria for types of questions or tasks (and for daily topics)</li>
<li>Getting students to self-identify as needing help and committing to getting that help (perhaps with a simple Google form)</li>
<li>Collecting student feedback on my practices</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>What I will do differently</u>:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Provide a copy of the completed learning map from the start of the course to each student</li>
<li>Engage students in the use of the map frequently</li>
<li>Scaffold student note-taking based on investigative learning (i.e. in the early stages I am publishing a "note outline" that asks prompting questions indicating that there is something they should take note of/think about</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Future goals and desires (that are just not realistic right now)</u>:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Have a usable learning map for the other course(s) I am teaching </li>
<li>Engage same-subject colleagues in work around assessment practices [we are engaging in some "department" professional learning time in the coming weeks that may help with this]</li>
<li>Be better at recording observation and conversation assessment data of student learning</li>
</ul>
</div>
Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-60682958336079946242018-02-15T17:54:00.000-05:002018-02-18T11:57:11.716-05:00Seeking "Gradeless" SanityThis post can also be found on our <a href="http://throwingoutgradestllp.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">team's TLLP blog</a>.<br />
<br />
It has been awhile since my last entry. Life and work got a little overwhelming, in retrospect. The midterm part of the semester contributed to that (you can read about it <a href="http://teachinginspirations.blogspot.com/2017/11/reflections-on-midterm-conferences-in.html" target="_blank">here</a>) on top of having 3 straight days of PL/a conference to attend to and I was well behind where I would have liked to be in terms of giving feedback to student. Summative evaluations began to pile up, the essentials had to be prioritized and returned first. No matter what anybody tells you, 84 students is a lot.<br />
<br />
But too often this number of students for a secondary educator is a normal reality. So we need to make this better. We need to find ways to meet student's needs, give them the feedback they need and deserve, and still come out sane on the other side. I wish I could tell you that this reflection was going to provide you with the magic answer. But...I don't have it...<br />
<br />
Yet.<br />
<br />
I am determined to find a way. I am determined to figure out how to be able to leverage students to become effective self- and peer-assessors, despite having a curriculum that is loaded so heavily with content. There must be a way. I have spent time reading (and even talking to) Starr Sackstein and reading books about descriptive feedback. I have spent time talking to other educators, in various subjects, who are on a journey to better feedback (many of whom are on a journey to "gradeless" - or at least "grading less"). And I am sold - I have "drank the kool-aid" (as many have put it). I believe that what I am trying to do is good for kids - that it leads to improved learning and skill building, better self-confidence, ownership of learning, and is more likely to lead to growth mindset of life-long learning. What I am not able to find, is anyone who can help me find solutions that work in a content-based subject/curriculum. I believe that what I see now would make for some amazing learning in language classes. But I am still struggling to wrap my head around how it is possible to meet with provincial policy (i.e. cover the expectations of my course) and still be sane at the end of the school year.<br />
<br />
Here is what I know:<br />
<br />
1. Overarching learning goals and my learning map provide:<br />
<ul>
<li>Focus for my course</li>
<li>Direction for students</li>
<li>Clear, transparent assessment & evaluation that is rooted in curriculum & policy</li>
<li>A third point for conversation around evaluation and reporting</li>
<li>Something tangible for students to deconstruct and make meaning from</li>
<li>A way for students to engage in self- and peer-assessment (descriptive feedback)</li>
<li>A way for students to self-evaluate (know where they are)</li>
</ul>
<div>
2. Overarching learning goals and my learning map do NOT (yet?) provide:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>A way to help students see that sometimes the skills are hindered by the content knowledge (i.e. why they are meeting expectations in this area when studying trigonometry, but may not be when studying quadratic relations)</li>
<li>the ability to "spiral" material in a course that has curriculum strands that are not related in any obvious ways (but this is also something I could see working on in the future)</li>
<li>A way for students to give themselves and others feedback around individual content criteria needed (and honestly, I would love to de-emphasize this in my head as I honestly believe that mathematical thinking skills are the most important part)</li>
<li>An effective way to record evidence of learning so I can track student progress (I am finding recording to be much more time-consuming than in the past)</li>
</ul>
<div>
3. Giving descriptive feedback helps:<br />
<ul>
<li>Students focus on learning</li>
<li>Teachers focus on what is the most important at the time</li>
<li>Students to identify potential next steps</li>
<li>Students improve their learning</li>
<li>Show students what you really value</li>
</ul>
<div>
4. Giving descriptive feedback takes:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Time (giving "out of" marks is definitely faster, but I still very much believe has little real value)</li>
<li>Effort</li>
<li>Additional thought</li>
<li>You to an uncomfortable place (so much cognitive dissonance!)</li>
</ul>
<div>
5. No matter how many times I am kicked down, I love what I do. And I will bounce back. I will accept my short-falls in the past, set goals for the future, and keep coming back for more.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-70084059181554940772017-11-22T16:23:00.000-05:002017-11-22T16:25:28.995-05:00Reflections on Midterm Conferences in "Gradeless" 9-10 MathThis post can also be found on our <a href="http://throwingoutgradestllp.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">team's TLLP blog</a>.<br />
<br />
It has been an observation of mine that students are struggling to transfer the meta-cognition skills gained in other places into the math classroom. The ideas and structures I am putting onto their math learning seem to be very different than anything they have done in math before that they do not realize they have done it elsewhere. It has made for some interesting reflection on my part.<br />
<br />
In continuing with my journey to explore student reflection I wanted to have students self-evaluate at midterm and conference with me to determine their report grade and report card comments. I set this up using an assignment on Google Classroom and had the sign up for a conference time-slot.<br />
<br />
My grade 10s were given a reflection document that included a few things (outlined via images below).<br />
<br />
Part 1: Identify pieces of evidence and start to identify criteria from the map that were evident in that evidence<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVCrBcilFGwG7T36q3nGxYDhEXJKVOzsGvQISx_Jv2nieNKRP-FJ5FVWY4QcdhOB1ceMZ_IN1KQDpacrxyL9pKkIaiof0FcN-YeaoVZgNypb_MeinCPs25G2ewiQn7rLQ5DQjujLI1UY/s1600/Screenshot+%252890%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="871" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVCrBcilFGwG7T36q3nGxYDhEXJKVOzsGvQISx_Jv2nieNKRP-FJ5FVWY4QcdhOB1ceMZ_IN1KQDpacrxyL9pKkIaiof0FcN-YeaoVZgNypb_MeinCPs25G2ewiQn7rLQ5DQjujLI1UY/s640/Screenshot+%252890%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Part 2: Highlight where evidence shows that they are for each criteria of each overarching learning goal in the course (the map is a partial map, only including the aspects relevant at this point in the course)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdHzjmQGITm23vBrxSGgFM4gsSHh-ioU8zK27_Snmzp_0SGQxRqlFD_dJ6zEkv6vCsIfuA9obXfDgt7Dgn7kZPaJhCaMvDYedRsLb99EvvEiBD_9tbFQPfKNUlSxvjA3gJH8ZOsl282E/s1600/Screenshot+%252891%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="988" data-original-width="901" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdHzjmQGITm23vBrxSGgFM4gsSHh-ioU8zK27_Snmzp_0SGQxRqlFD_dJ6zEkv6vCsIfuA9obXfDgt7Dgn7kZPaJhCaMvDYedRsLb99EvvEiBD_9tbFQPfKNUlSxvjA3gJH8ZOsl282E/s400/Screenshot+%252891%2529.png" width="363" /></a></div>
<br />
Part 3: Self-evaluate and reevaluate learning and next steps<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh618ABaUE1QomNAtodIr2vZlXx0vVGRTLSDw-eSXFx7nfMkZ6EqkNcMdqLhyeAvrBeK2htDkNg6gIuun_FV9RsUpyefH6GiVP75mvZzNSbhwVcH9r2blqj4WGFvkVUnLQ5c8Yt1m29XKE/s1600/Screenshot+%252892%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="890" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh618ABaUE1QomNAtodIr2vZlXx0vVGRTLSDw-eSXFx7nfMkZ6EqkNcMdqLhyeAvrBeK2htDkNg6gIuun_FV9RsUpyefH6GiVP75mvZzNSbhwVcH9r2blqj4WGFvkVUnLQ5c8Yt1m29XKE/s640/Screenshot+%252892%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
When this was all said and done I opened this file when students came to me for their conference. Since I was finding that students were struggling with this process in math I ended up spending most of this time looking at their map with them and identifying areas where we disagreed so that we could discuss them. I recognize that I had not done the map justice (did not explain it well enough) and had already known that it would be difficult as it would be their first real exposure to it (I was only able to write the map myself the week before giving this assignment). Needless to say, I learned a lot - and had already planned to get a student focus-group together to help me reword the map more appropriately for students.<br />
<br />
So next time I will:<br />
- get students using the map earier<br />
- rework it to use more student-friendly language<br />
- model how to use the map<br />
- have students evaluate using the map before midterm<br />
- continue to build student reflection and self- & peer-assessment skills explicitly<br />
<br />
The grade 9s I do not have a map for so I approached their reflection by having them fill in a chart while referencing the parts of the curriculum document that were relevant at this point. They were often able to identify specific expectations that they were doing well on and ones that they had to work on. What ended up lacking was them considering these expectations from a lens that expanded from just the "understand and use" - I need a way to make sure that the 9s consider the math processes as well in the future.<br />
<br />
Overall students responded fairly positively during conferences when I pointed out things that had not considered that showed they were struggling with aspects of the course, but the discussions took a long time. The conferencing process was valuable, but I need to seek some ways to make it more manageable and to be away from facilitating student learning for less time.Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-8264950594363106282017-10-15T21:21:00.000-04:002017-10-15T21:21:02.992-04:00Questions Coming From "Gradeless" MathThis post can also be found on our <a href="http://throwingoutgradestllp.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">team's TLLP blog</a>.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Going "gradeless" (using feedback-focused assessment) has brought about some great things with students, but often leads to more question than answers about my assessment practices. If you are reading this and have any ideas or suggestions I would love to hear from you!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u>Overarching Learning Goals & Learning Maps</u></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I have started my year in grade 10 math with a set of learning goals and an incomplete learning map. I went into this process with an understanding that these documents will always be working documents. Changes will be needed depending on the group of students and changing needs of the course/society/etc. I am only 6 weeks into the semester and already envisioning the need for changes just based on pedagogy and assessment policy. Some of the reasons for this will be become more evidence in the topic below.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My learning map only has descriptors for level 3, which is partly by design.<br />1) I couldn't figure out how to describe the learning for 4 levels since I had not even tried using these goals for standards-based grading</div>
<div>
2) I want student language to be used on the map so really need their voice to complete it</div>
<div>
Hopefully I can get to a point soon where I have enough student evidence to show them that they can help me with that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u>The Achievement Chart</u></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
I am grappling with the achievement chart in math - I am a fan of ensuring that we are assessing using all 4 categories (for those of you outside of Ontario those are Knowledge & Understanding, Application, Communication and Thinking) but I am struggling with the "descriptors" that Ontario uses to split them into 4 levels and even more grappling with what it means to have knowledge & understanding at a level 4 (exceeding expectations) when removed from thinking. I cannot get away from the idea that to show level 4 K&U you must also be showing T.<br />
<br />
<u>Manageable Feedback</u><br />
<br />
This is the biggest question for me in out TLLP. How do I give students the feedback in math that they need and deserve in a manageable way? If I were to do all of what I think is beneficial I would literally not sleep. When everything is in place I will try to find ways to do it a bit more electronically so there is less hand writing to do, but the idea still baffles me in such a skill-based course (with the sheer volume of skills/understanding they need).<br />
<br />
If anyone has any idea I would love to hear them. There is only so much that they can accomplish through self- and peer-feedback.<br />
<br />
<u>Managing Conferencing</u><br />
<br />
I love doing interviews with kids about math. It is always an eye-opening look into what they actually understand (sometimes things they have not been able to articulate on paper and sometimes finding out just how much they are memorizing and not understanding). When I was teaching senior courses I usually found the time I needed to have these conferences, but I am having more trouble doing so with junior courses. It is a to harder to get them to be automonous for 3 days so that I can have the time needed.<br />
<br />
Any ideas are welcome!Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-7167430001550004032017-09-26T23:59:00.001-04:002017-09-26T23:59:19.333-04:00Week 2/3 in "Gradeless" Math - Self & Peer-Assessment and Reflecting on ProgressThis post can also be found on our <a href="http://throwingoutgradestllp.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">team's TLLP blog</a>.<br />
<br />
In the second full week of school I put a lot of focus on starting to develop student's skills in self- and peer-assessment. Without these skills the idea of developing an environment that creates more autonomous learners likely would not happen (and the burden of giving descriptive feedback would fall entirely on me - and I also have a goal to get more sleep this year).<br />
<br />
Here is the gist of the steps I attempted to take last week:<br />
<br />
1. Give students questions to use when reflecting on their work (such as "Have I written my solution so that someone else can follow it?"). I put these on the board and uploaded a photo of them to our Google Site for student's to reference.<br />
<br />
2. Introduce the model I am using for descriptive feedback (Acknowledge what you are doing well; Describe what your next step should be; Determine how/when you are going to work on your next step). I also put this on the board and uploaded a photo to our Site. <i>In the future, I would like to provide students with exemplars and discuss what good feedback looks like.</i><br />
<br />
3. Assign students to choose a question they have done and use the questions from 1 and the model from 2 to write descriptive feedback for themselves (and asked them to upload to Sesame so I could give them feedback on their descriptive feedback).<br />
<br />
4. On the next opportunity I modeled how I used the success criteria to write the reflection questions for students (this time we were looking at problem solving).<br />
<br />
5. I then assigned a question for them to do as practice and when most of them were finished I had them swap with a neighbour and peer-assess using the questions and write descriptive feedback for their partner.<br />
<br />
6. For homework that night I asked them to choose one of the questions they did at home to upload to Sesame and include descriptive feedback for themselves. I followed up with those who posted one to give them feedback on their self-assessment.<br />
<br />
I plan to have report conferences with students at midterm and the end of the course to determine their report grades together. To help them prepare for this I also implemented the next two steps at the end of the week.<br />
<br />
7. I created a chart (pictured below) with instructions for students for them to use to help them summarize what we had been doing. I filled in the overarching learning goals (OLGs) that I wanted them to focus on and they needed to list the evidence they had of that learning (i.e. quiz, homework, activity) and then list the corresponding success criteria from our learning map as ether "met" or "still working on".<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIpwv8xFpj5jeQqcEPtorE8HBADV9Lt9Ppxal3knxUcal4bSnJpUFtzivKX3-CN2VKAaBlyUQQvTQuoplE-5pTp1t-r2o9VqBRWpK-tXUSpaD0gig1YQ2i0MlA0WpLIi8dupMa76vU0E/s1600/Screenshot+%252888%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="803" height="599" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIpwv8xFpj5jeQqcEPtorE8HBADV9Lt9Ppxal3knxUcal4bSnJpUFtzivKX3-CN2VKAaBlyUQQvTQuoplE-5pTp1t-r2o9VqBRWpK-tXUSpaD0gig1YQ2i0MlA0WpLIi8dupMa76vU0E/s640/Screenshot+%252888%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
8. Based on the instructions students sent home an email that summarized the chart (on my Google Classroom assignment it stated that they should: Tell them what they learned/were able to do; Inform them of what is still being worked on; Summarize how the student feels they are doing so far).<br />
<br />
Once students started to send the emails and I looked at a couple I realized I needed to get them to do a reflection portion to help consolidate a bit better. Upon this reflection I decided to add this to the bottom of these reflections.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkw0Uj07oghz24F6aAtiLNFp9v1HM4WwP14QmCZgE5bwdGQFc7y-0A9OrdgRlj5UDZ26HGRjq-bnu17lGFbcC82ZZaOkDa62L_Bl9SA4ptw6TJzzPCyYKfbPIvQB1EtDtRGm54BYtikI/s1600/Screenshot+%252889%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="221" data-original-width="721" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkw0Uj07oghz24F6aAtiLNFp9v1HM4WwP14QmCZgE5bwdGQFc7y-0A9OrdgRlj5UDZ26HGRjq-bnu17lGFbcC82ZZaOkDa62L_Bl9SA4ptw6TJzzPCyYKfbPIvQB1EtDtRGm54BYtikI/s640/Screenshot+%252889%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
This will make sure students are reminded to revisit their goal and will hopefully lead to students setting some relevant goals for where they are at the time.<br />
<br />
I will definitely be continuing to get students to use self- and peer-assessment and will continue to work on using the above style reflections to see how they go. Right now the tough part is convincing all of them to complete it (I gave them time in class, but probably not enough).Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-68610766271285861372017-09-13T15:26:00.000-04:002017-09-13T15:26:24.974-04:00Week 1 in Math - My Motivations & Understanding Expectations with Students<div>
<u>What, Why and Where</u></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am finally embarking on my vision of a "gradeless" classroom. What does that mean? It means that my students will receive feedback that is feedback-based. Learning becomes about learning. Grades take a step back and are determine for reporting periods.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why am I going here? I am giving the ownership of learning back to my students. For too long I have been the owner of the learning. It was believed that the teacher "gave" marks and students always wanted to know what they needed to "do" to get an 80. The shift is simple - I give feedback based on set criteria that students need to work toward and they reflect on their learning and act on a next step to meet those criteria. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Where am I now? In the past 2-3 years I have done some work with creating overarching learning goals and reformatting evaluations (i.e. taking marks off of quizzes, using one-point rubrics to give feedback, etc.). Ultimately these changes have led me to need to go to a fully feedback-based classroom so that I can focus on doing this well. So this year (my grade 10 classes in particular) will learn math through feedback based on 5 overarching learning goals.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u>Our First Few Days</u></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After spending a period on vertical surfaces solving a problem in groups we started to attack the curriculum. I wanted students to have a chance to find out what the curriculum was and to understand the lens through which the curriculum is taught. In fact, I wanted them to <i>own</i> it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>The Math Processes </b>- the lens through which the Ontario math curriculum is taught</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Students were in 7 groups of 3-4 students and each group was assigned to one of the processes. They were tasked with rewriting their process in their own words. I gave them two prompting questions to consider to help with the process: What does it mean? What will it look like in class?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Groups then rotated around and had a chance to add or suggest changes to the work of the other groups. When they returned to their own group they were to look at the suggestions made and decide on their final sentence - sharing their final work in a shared document.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As a group we looked at the final sentences which was my chance to ask them questions about their choices of words. This lead to us making some changes (I tried to make sure we were keeping as much of their wording as possible) and agreeing as a class that we understood what it looked like.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Overall Expectations</b> - the content</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Students were given the curriculum for one of the strands of the course and were tasked with rewriting the overall expectations in their own words. When they were finished I had the groups working on the same strand get together and come to an agreement before sharing it on our shared doc. We then looked at it as a class.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
With my second section I made a better point of talking about the language in the document, defining words they needed and talked about what words were important to leave in.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Learning Map</b> - putting them together</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I reworded my overarching learning goals to use the students words from the above and then shared my learning map with the students. The 5 goals on this map are where we will focus our attention for the semester. Instead of having 7 processes and 10 overall expectations students how have 5 goals to manage and reflect on.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u>Reflection</u></div>
<div>
<u><br /></u></div>
<div>
While I am at a school where deconstructing curriculum is not new to grade 10 students it was their first time doing it with math "jargon" so the struggle was largely around the vocabulary used. When I do this again with students who are new to this process in math I would spend time at the start looking at math and instructional vocabulary and make sure that we know what they mean and which ones are important to keep.</div>
Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-41346752101715359112017-09-02T15:26:00.001-04:002017-09-02T15:26:48.297-04:00Everyone has an OpinionAs a math educator there is nothing I dread more than the wrath of opinions sent my way when standardized tests scores are released (not to mention the fact the it seems to get worse every year...somehow the media gets hold of results before they are public). Everyone has an opinion. And they are entitled to one.<br />
<br />
But it does not make them an expert.<br />
<br />
It is easy to sit at the sidelines and put blame on someone else - teachers, the curriculum, and the like. Currently most of them blame is on the curriculum and/or so-called "discovery math" instruction.<br />
<br />
<u><b>The Curriculum</b></u><br />
<br />
Standardized expectations set by the ministry that is publicly available <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teachers/curriculum.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Now I do not ever call myself a math ed expert. My experience is limited to Ontario in grade 9-12 with a bit of tutoring at the grade 6 level. This is the only experience I can speak from. But I am sure I could find many colleagues (elementary and secondary) that would agree that there is too much emphasis on math content. Every grade level is loaded with content that is needed and content has always been in the drivers seat. Elementary grades have to cover content in 5 areas each with a multitude of specific expectations to get to.<br />
<br />
Flip to the front matter of either sets of curricula and you will find 7 Mathematical Processes. These are supposed to be the lens through which math is taught - and we need to remind each other of this. Perhaps a redesign of curriculum to make this front matter the meat of each grade would be beneficial. Check out BC's <a href="https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum" target="_blank">new curriculum</a> - it is competency focused. I am sure it is not perfect, but frankly, it is genius.<br />
<br />
You won't catch me claiming that the curriculum does not need to be revisited.<br />
<br />
<b><u>"Discovery Math"</u></b><br />
<br />
I use the phrase discovery learning in quotations because it is misunderstood by most people. It is over-simplified into this little box definition and believed by many to mean that we give students a problem and then never help them. This is a myth.<br />
<br />
I am sure that there is a lot of support needed for teachers to embrace the research behind "purposeful struggle" and I am also willing to go out on a limb and guess that there are many teachers teaching math who are not comfortable doing it (I have friends who would attest to this) and are probably even less comfortable with embracing a different way of teaching. But discovery math is not to blame.<br />
<br />
We absolutely need learners to play with numbers and learn ways that they are related. They need to find the number sense within them. Math is not as simple as we make it out to be. It is not a bunch of facts that we memorize and use without understanding (lack of understanding leads to mistakes!) - hey you might be good at arithmetic, but this does not a mathematician make. We need to develop a future filled with people who can problem solve, use logic, reflect and communicate - we do not need a future of human calculators.<br />
<br />
Using traditional teaching forced me to always tell kids what to do and how to do it. I could tell them why, but to them why was not important. Students got a lesson and then practiced that work. They only worked on that one skill and never made connections to other ideas. Traditional teaching forced me to teach to the middle of the class and made differentiation nearly impossible.<br />
<br />
Discovery math allows me to do a variety of things and to differentiate my classroom. Research supports learning as a complex structure that requires much more than memorizing (and even the parts you do need to "remember" need to be forgotten and recalled many times to bring them into long-term memory). In fact, learning is one of the most counter-intuitive things I know. I bet most people can come up with at least one example of something they thought they had learned only later to realize they had tricked themselves into it - only their short term memory had any idea at the time. By using a discovery approach students have to struggle with ideas (makes learning seem like it takes more effort to achieve - because it does - but lasts a lot longer and leads to making connections to ideas already understood) but they get to do it in an environment with 29 of their peers and a learning coach to help out when the "struggle" moves from purposeful to frustrated.<br />
____________________________<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong. I don't have an answer. And there isn't a simple one. I cannot tell you why only 50% of last year's grade 6 students met the provincial expectations (but I can tell you that these tests are not straight-forward and disadvantage many groups of students).<br />
<br />
I have rambled at this point and could keep going. I could justify every decision that I made in deciding how I would be running my classroom this year. We don't make these decisions on a whim. We do not do them just because someone tells us to.<br />
<br />
One opinion writer this week wrote that the one thing that has not changed are kids - that kids are still kids, capable of learning. This is an oversimplification of a very complex discussion - I could easily disagree with her. But one thing is for sure.<br />
<br />
We do it for the kids. Every day.Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-11510444559040432072017-08-16T13:59:00.001-04:002017-08-16T14:02:59.556-04:00"Skills Check" QuizThis past school year my department head was introduced to a new style of quiz (origin unknown - if you know who in the board she got it from please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due). We use them as an opportunity for a specific skill check - generally knowledge-based but sometimes the level 3/4 questions will involve using the skill in a new context. There is no use of marks<br />
<br />
The "quiz" is set up with a learning goal at the top with success criteria listed (I now look back and would probably argue for myself that the SC is really just 1 or 2 criteria split into levels). There are 4 questions on the quiz, set up in a chart (3 columns - the question with work space, feedback & reflection/corrections) starting with a level 1 type question and ending with a level 4 type question. A sample (from MCR 3U0) of the front of one of mine is shown in the image below (I put the level 3 & 4 questions on the back).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPzqJsq5sqn91AEnTS3c3bi0CVOP2_sY2e7EnpNl99jyaziAvPpsNbYJENvIZ1LyS9t_IV2LBugJmg2cYW-ekHTWzhRx9Mrn-hrGj4EzwYYFaljVitKKnrh_mxDgW0K5L8ObUK6dkgVB4/s1600/Screenshot+%252887%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1114" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPzqJsq5sqn91AEnTS3c3bi0CVOP2_sY2e7EnpNl99jyaziAvPpsNbYJENvIZ1LyS9t_IV2LBugJmg2cYW-ekHTWzhRx9Mrn-hrGj4EzwYYFaljVitKKnrh_mxDgW0K5L8ObUK6dkgVB4/s640/Screenshot+%252887%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The focus of this style of quiz is on the feedback.<br />
<br />
If a student is struggling with the level 1 question than I will focus my feedback there and stop. The feedback is descriptive (tells the student what they are able to do and what the next step needs to be - as well as where to get the help with it) and manageable - if they are struggling with the level 1 question then giving feedback on other questions will likely be too much.<br />
<br />
What really sold me on this particular format is that it became easy for me to record a level for the student at the end - I had already done most of the thinking when I planned and created the quiz. This was mind-blowing for me because so much of the hardship in the adjustments I was making in my assessment journey was the extra time I was spending giving feedback and then figuring out levels.<br />
<br />
Granted this is just a quiz and it cannot be used for all purposes. But it's a start.<br />
<br />
Finally, when I return these to students I do not take them up (because the individual feedback they need is on them) but students are giving time to do corrections/reflections, redo the next question, and are then encouraged to hand it back in. I will then check their corrections and if they have succeeded at that level will look at the next one and provide them feedback on this.<br />
<br />
The hardest part for me? Continuing to work on the classroom culture where this kind of practice is valued and more students take the opportunity to resubmit.Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4700599384749105609.post-56476793106001494422017-08-10T22:21:00.000-04:002017-08-10T22:21:07.851-04:00Portfolio: Who Do I Hope to Become?As part of my Teacher Leadership Part 1 AQ we are to build a portfolio of artifacts that reflect who we are as a leader and who we want to become. In this entry I will be reflecting on who I hope to become as a leader and where it might take me.<br />
<br />
I would like to be able to feel more confident with dissonant conversations that come up in the office/lunchroom going forward. I find that when I am able to prepare for these types of things I do a little better but I do not always think well on my feet and come up with diplomatic but pointed ways to say things. I will be working to improve this aspect of my leadership-related skills in the near future.<br />
<br />
I am planning to complete Part 2 and the specialist of this 3 part AQ course going forward and hope to continue to build myself up as a leader by getting better at seeking feedback from others about my practice. This is a good portion of the data we will need to collect for our TLLP project, so I believe that being the lead of this project will help me to do that more often. I particularly feel that it is important for me to learn to take action based on that feedback.<br />
<br />
Going forward I continue to believe that leading by example is the most important thing that a teacher-leader can do. We need to share our triumps AND failures with colleagues (deprivatize our practice), be willing to take risks (and learn from each part of it along the way) and, most importantly, we must be willing to ask the difficult questions (just because we have "always done it this way" doesn't make it the best/only way).<br />
<br />
We must be willing to stand up for students, to seek change and be willing to learn from others.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jtIR7LCRKiKYZQ8js5l0Otb5wGro7yRf8f6Zx0Zcm-8/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Here</a> is the leadership philosophy I developed for the course that I think reflects who I hope to be as a leader.Heather Lyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01050951042072276947noreply@blogger.com0